Testing CP Violation in ZZH Interactions at the LHC

Abstract

We study genuine CP-odd observables at the LHC to test the CP property of the ZZH interaction for a Higgs boson with mass below the threshold to a pair of gauge bosons via the process p,p -> Z,H -> l+,l-,b,bbar. We illustrate the analysis by including a CP-odd ZZH coupling, and show how to extract the CP asymmetries in the signal events. After selective kinematical cuts to suppress the SM backgrounds plus an optimal Log-likelihood analysis, we find that, with a CP violating coupling btilde = 0.25, a CP asymmetry may be established at a 3 sigma (5 sigma) level with an integrated luminosity of about 30 (50) fb^-1 at the LHC.